The Simpsons Supports South Park

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Bart Simpson references the latest South Park controversy.

By Eric Goldman

You've got to admire animation solidarity. This past week, South Park found itself at the center of (another) controversy, after Comedy Central decided to bleep out the name of the Prophet Muhammad from the episode "201" – in the wake of threatening statements put out following the previous week's episode, "200", which satirized the fear over depicting Muhammad by showing him on screen hidden beneath a bear costume. Comedy Central's decision to add the bleeps was not supported by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

South Park is unique in animation because their episodes are produced so quickly, with just a week turnaround time. Most animated series episodes are being worked on a full year before they air, which is why it's so rare for any other animated shows to deal with truly topical issues like South Park does. However, last night, The Simpsons' producers proved there was at least one area of the show where they could tweak things at the last minute – the opening credits, where Bart is always seen writing a different message on the chalk board at his school each week.

Bart's latest message was a humorous one, which used self-deprecation to say The Simpsons couldn't fully stand with South Park - yet clearly stating that the producers do indeed support them, by bringing up the issue at all.